friday afternoon

So I am sitting in a coffee shop and there's a Dad and daughter playing Uno and it is basically the sweetest thing I've ever seen. I love chilling out in a coffee shop and since Mom's house doesn't have internet, I have the privilege often. The different people that come to places like this are interesting with varied degrees of stress. You have the people who talk to each other and smile, then you have the ones that come in, have a coffee and are gone within 5 minutes. Sad. Then you have the ones that are working on computers (or pretending.) And the people who come in to have a chat. Oh how I love coffee chats!

How important those moments are when there is no where else that you have to be. And how valuable the people are that you can spend those moments with. How often to we hurry through life, like getting something done in the next three seconds is going to change the world. I am one of those people who needs to remember to slow down.

Last year we had discussions on what rest meant. The conclusion that we came up with was being present.

So the little girl who was playing Uno came over to me. "I like your apple" talking about the glowing apple on the back of my computer. Then we talked about her doll which is wearing pajamas but apparently has a church dress, and other dress, and back pack, and coat, and this and that. So cute.

I love when you get to interact with people generally and it is always nice to talk to people that you've never met and probably won't see again. Like the man in front of me just turning around asking what book I am reading. Cool. (right now it is the Alphabet of Grace by Frederick Buechner, but to be honest, I'm on the first page)

Or last weekend, talking to people at the train station as the train was delayed or the guy who sat next to me who was traveling four hours to purchase bookmaking supplies. (better than the internet cause you can see the colors of the leather more accurately) It makes me sad though that you interact with so many people that you really won't see again. Seems weird. Like you get a glimpse of their story but don't get to find out what happens next. Left with the curiosity..... what color leather did that guy purchase? Does the girl I met at the train station get back with her boyfriend? Will the guy from the station get to go home for the holidays? Will he finish his marketing studies? Will the little girl's doll get to wear a dress? Simple things but still questions that I'll never know the answers to and people that you will probably never see, and never know if you did. (I may not recognize them either.) Strange.